


I can't help but love you/Even though I try not to

by SoManyThings



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Identity Reveal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-12
Updated: 2016-04-12
Packaged: 2018-06-01 20:05:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6534547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoManyThings/pseuds/SoManyThings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Chat… I’ve told you-”</p>
<p>“I know. I know. You’re in love, you’re happy. And I’m happy for you. But I really do love you.”</p>
<p>She stayed silent, just looking at him. “I’m seeing someone, Chat.”</p>
<p>“So am I.”</p>
<p>---</p>
<p>Essentially what would happen if Adrien and Marinette started dating pre-reveal, and then what would happen when they inevitably did end up revealing their identities.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I can't help but love you/Even though I try not to

“Chat… I’ve told you-”

 

“I know. I know. You’re in love, you’re happy. And I’m happy for you. But I really do love you.”

She stayed silent, just looking at him. “I’m seeing someone, Chat.”

“So am I.”  
—  
Evening patrol recently had been generally uneventful, which was ultimately for the better. Had it been anything more than peaceful nights, the giddy and smiling teenagers dashing around Parisian rooftops might not have been able to do more than stare distractedly at the offending akuma. The unusually happy atmosphere surrounding Paris’ heroes continued for a week or two before either noticed, each being too caught up in their own happy thoughts of their new significant others in order to pay their battle partners much mind.

However on one warm summer night, sitting above the glittering lights of the city, one particular blonde felt a stirring curiosity at the still bubbly mood of his friend. Looking over at her smiling, masked face, he pondered the continual happy mood she had been showing recently. He, of course, had felt the same way, and knew why: without the mask he was lucky enough to have a charming, bubbly, and positively _adorable_ girlfriend. Marinette Dupain-Cheng. She stood up to Chloe, beat him to the ground at video games, and her dad enthusiastically giving him baked goods wasn’t bad either. But Ladybug- what got her so happy?

“So, _my lady_ ,” he purred. She looked up at him, with the lights from the city below casting an orange tinge on her smiling face. “You’ve been in a good mood lately. Should I be jealous?”

Ladybug rolled her eyes at him, but the smile didn’t leave her face.

“If you have to know, yes. I’m dating an amazing boy, who’s kind, and thoughtful, and I may have been infatuated before but this is so much better because he likes me back and it’s _wonderful!_ ” She gushed.

Chat blinked in surprise. “Oh. That’s great! He must be lucky,” he joked. Ladybug smiled, and hit him playfully on the shoulder.

—

When patrol eventually finished, Chat slipped silently into his bedroom, with what he had learnt about Ladybug’s other life turning over in his mind. He hadn’t expected to be so accurate. And he certainly hadn’t expected her to have started gushing the way she did.

Of course he had feelings for her before – you’d have to be crazy not to. But he had given up hope after a while. A little part of him always knew that dating his partner would never be a good idea, and being with Marinette just solidified the fact in his mind.

Of course he was happy. _Of course he was_. Marinette was brilliant, and he felt immeasurably lucky to be with her. Chloe might have hated her just that little bit more, but she  
never seemed to mind. She seemed just as happy as he was.

Rolling over in bed, Adrien smiled to himself. _Marinette_. Thinking about her, all his curiosity about what might have been with his lady in red slowly faded to a dull glimmer, as he fell into a peaceful sleep.

—-  
From that night onwards, the atmosphere their patrols had shifted. With each passing night, Chat seemed to grow more and more distant, or at the very least lost in thought. Almost as if he could not help but be torn between his two halves. Being a superhero does this, of course. You start to blur the lines between your normal life and the one behind the mask. Ladybug knew her fair share about this, having slowly realized as time went on that she brought up life as Marinette - particularly with Adrien – more and more often.

_That must be it_. She realizes one night, with a sharp pang of understanding. _Adrien._

Anyone would have to be blind not to notice that Chat Noir had an infatuation of sorts with Ladybug. Even still, the blind would probably still just know. Ladybug, of course, was included in those who just knew. Having been partners with him for quite some time now, she knew him more than most. Knowing he cared deeply for his partner was introductory level, at the very least.

_Was it inconsiderate to tell him about Adrien?_ She pondered. She glanced up at her partner who, in one of his many states of zoning out, had ended up a few paces ahead of her.

_No. No, it would be inconsiderate to let him keep hoping._ She nodded to herself. She had felt strongly for Adrien for almost as long as she’d known Chat now, and said feelings had been romantic for just about all of it.

_I’ve made my choice. I love Adrien. I’m happy._

Telling herself this the rest of the night, she still felt the smallest twinge of guilt as she slipped into bed and drifted to sleep.

—

“Ladybug?”

“What is it, Chat?”

“I love you.”

Ladybug looked up at him, at the green eyes that now faltered where they met her gaze. She remained quiet for a moment, trying to understand how genuine he was. Another look at the eyes that shone bright as emeralds behind his mask told her she would be wrong to think he could be any more earnest than he was now.

“Chat… I’ve told you-”

“I know. I know. You’re in love, you’re happy. And I’m happy for you. But I really do love you.”

She stayed silent, just looking at him. “I’m seeing someone, Chat.”

“So am I.”

This was new. They had been sitting on a rung on the Eiffel Tower, peering out at Trocadéro in general silence. Staring into his eyes still, he eventually seemed to cave, and averted his eyes back down to the city below them. Of course she knew he had feelings for her. _Of course_. But the thought of Chat outside the mask, dating someone… That was an entirely unspoken thought for her. It shouldn’t be surprising. Someone somewhere must have thought he was charming – _God save the girl that did_ she joked to herself. _Not the time, Marinette!_ She chastised herself.

Quietly, she let the subject drop, looking down into the gardens and distinctly avoiding his gaze.

—

Since discovering Chat had, apparently, moved on, life between the two superheroes had gotten awkward. When the masks came off, life between Marinette and Adrien was just as happy. If either put thought into their second lives, they did a good job of putting it out of mind on their dates. But in the dead of night, with nothing but their own silence and each other to keep them company, the confusion mounted.

But when the akumas began to hit closer to home, they discovered that keeping their thoughts silent would do them no good.

This particular akuma seemed to think that revenge would best come in the form of hurting the loved ones of their victims. Mirages were their apparent specialty, not unlike other akumatised fiends the two had fought before. But again, Chat being Chat, recognizing them was not his strong suit.

And so they were, standing on the marbled roof of the Arc de Triomphe, below the flying form of an akumatised boy ( _Le Spectre_ : a boy with the ability to created forms from thin air and use them how he wished) – holding Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

_“DON’T TOUCH HER!”_

“Chat-”

“NO, Lady, I-”

“CHAT! It’ll be fi-”

“You don’t get it, I-”

“Marinette is fine! Trust me, please!”

_“I’m in love with her,_ I can’t let her get hurt!”

Traffic had stopped beneath the Arc, as passersby stared up, transfixed at the forms of their heroes, and the poor girl dangling from the villain. At Chat’s words, Ladybug stopped cold. Her blue eyes stared, transfixed at the sight of her distraught partner gazing up in agony at the girl above him.

“You love-”

“That’s my girlfriend, I can’t- _I can’t lose her!”_

As the puzzle pieces fell into their places in Ladybug’s mind, realization slowly dawned on her.

_‘I’m in love with her’._

‘That’s my girlfriend’.

‘I’m seeing someone’ ‘So am I’.

“You’re-”

“LADYBUG!”

She jolted at the sound of her name, but getting out of the state of shock comes too late. A desperate glance up sees Marinette – the copy, the illusion – falling to the earth and  
fizzling into nothing, with the form of Le Spectre inches from her face, hitting her hard and sending her tumbling off the top of the Arc.

Mere feet from the ground her yoyo found a hold on a lamp post, and in a shuddery and ungraceful jolt she skidded to a halt on the pavement. Winded, scraped and the tiniest bit dizzy, but alive. Within seconds Chat is by her side. The akuma is the furthest thing from his mind – his girlfriend and his partner are the two bright spots in his mind which screamed for attention. Not seeing Marinette on the ground in a heap, it hit him that she was a mirage.

_Stupid, stupid, STUPID-_

He knelt down next to Ladybug, gently helping her up from where she lay tired and aching beneath the arc. 

“She was a mirage, of course she was, why didn’t I see that, I’m stupid, I’m sorry, you’re hurt, I should have helped you, I’m sorry, Ladybug-”

“Ad- _Chat.” Ladybug said, with a grimace. Even so, she managed to roll her eyes at him. “I’ll be fine. This isn’t the worst injury I’ve gotten.”_

“But-”

“There’s an akuma, Chat.”

“Ladybug-”

“I’ll explain everything after this. I promise.”

Chat’s worried gaze slowly fades. He’s learnt to trust his partner before, and even now, nothing is different. He nods and helps her up, and in another half hour Le Spectre is  
nothing but a ghost of a memory.

—

After the akuma had gone the two sadly realized that, given the difficulty of beating it, their miraculous’ were next to gone. And so, after a quick and simple agreement, they sat on the top of the Arc de Triomphe in the yellow light of the setting sun a few hours later, back in costume with their rested kwamis.  
Ladybug sat crossed legged, facing her partner. Her eyes shut, and she took a deep breath.

“Your name is Adrien Agreste.”

Chat blinked, staring at her in anxious shock.

“You’re dating Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”

Chat nodded.

“How-”

Words wouldn’t do her any good. There was no way that she could vocalize thoughts in a coherent enough way, not here, not now, not to him. But there was a much simpler way to do it, she realized. Leaning forward, she grabbed his face in hers softly, and pressed her lips against his. His eyes fluttered shut, and when he pulled back, there sat Marinette, with her hands still resting softly on his cheeks.

Speechless, Chat reached forward and hugs her, so tight that the thought of ever letting go seemed like a scientific impossibility.

“I was so worried.”

“I know.”

“I’m so, _so_ confused.”

“I know.”

“I love you.”

Where her face was pressed into his shoulder, Marinette smiled.

“I love you too.”

—

To begin with, revealing who they were had been delightful. But as time went on, the brother-sister relationship that Ladybug had felt towards Chat Noir began to make seeing Adrien the tiniest bit weird. And with this, seeing the glimmers of Ladybug in Marinette did the same for Adrien.

“Adrien?”

“Mmm?”

“Is it weird knowing I’m Ladybug?”

Adrien looked at his girlfriend. The two were stood, leaning on the railing above Marinette’s bedroom to take in the summer air. She wasn’t looking at him, but rather anywhere but his direction. He sighed.

“Honestly? It is, a little bit.” He admitted. She nodded, still not looking at him.

“It’s kind of weird knowing you’re Chat. I mean, all the cat puns.”

He laughed, but nodded. They went back to silence. After a while, Marinette leaned her head against his shoulder. Looking down at her, he noticed the hurt look of confusion on her face. Adrien sighed, pulling back and drawing her into a hug.

“Do you want to take a break from this?” He asked. In response, Marinette pulled him closer to her, as if she was trying to melt her face into his chest. A moment passed, and he felt her nod into his chest. Only mildly hurt, he smiled, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

“I love you,” She murmured. “But I need time to process all of this.”

Adrien nodded, taking her face in his hands to make her look up at him. He smiled, and she couldn’t help but do the same.

“Take all the time you need, my lady.”

—

Two months passed, giving both Adrien and Marinette time to ponder what it meant for them to be dating their partners. On one hand, they were both dating the people they had had crushes on for God knows how long. On the other, Marinette was dating the person she saw as her brother, while Adrien was dating two people he viewed as both equally wonderful, but very, very different.

School was ok – Alya and Nino took the hint and kept them occupied and away from each other when need be. Even patrol and fighting akumas wasn’t too much of a problem. They got by, and the mild confusion they faced could be put down when needed to get the job done. Besides, they _had_ been dating for a while now, and had been battle partners for even longer. They got by. At times it was tough, but they managed.

And then one day, as Ladybug released her lucky charm and sent the destruction back in order, she looked at Chat catching his breath. The fight had been tough - really tough. This akuma was angry, sad and stubborn, and did not intend on making anything easy for them. There had been a few close calls, but in the end, somehow, they managed to pull through.

Chat noticed her looking at him, and gave her a slightly awkward smile. In response, she walked over to him and gave him a firm kiss square on the lips. Slowly, she pulled away, and whispered:

“I love you, Adrien.”

He smiled gently, leaning hid forehead against hers. In turn, he whispered:

“I love you too, Marinette.”

They made it work.


End file.
